Mods on my Vulcan 500

[burkbuilds]

Sold my GZ in March of 09 and bought the Vulcan 500 so i could handle the highway trips between Rossville, and Atlanta. Did a few "mods" to make it work for my needs, here's the summary. Slipstream windshield, Chrome front fender, heated grips, tachometer, floorboards, lockable trunk with extra brake and turn signal lighting, saddle bags and customized seat and a stem nut clock. I also added LED accent lighting and a plug in for my heated gear (vest and gloves). Otherwise, its stock! :biggrin:

[alanmcorcoran]

Probably just the angle of the photo but your bags look awful close to the tailpipe. I like the seat and the trunk, but the backrest looks a little flimsy comparatively. Maybe your next mod?

[Water Warrior 2]

I like it. Looks like it will perform the needed functions with comfort and lots of utility. What more can you ask for.

[burkbuilds]

The bags are kinda close, about an inch, but I have aluminum shielding riveted to the bottom of the bags and it hasn't been a problem. The back rest is amazingly sturdy, I can lean back hard against it and it does just fine, and I'm not a little guy, 210lbs. I don't personally like the look of the seat as well as the OEM seat, but it sure is a lot more comfortable and nobody can see the seat when I'm sitting on it anyway, so who cares.

[dhgeyer]

That's quite a ride you have there! A lot of work, but it looks like it paid off, and will for years to come.

[burkbuilds]

I'm hoping this will get me back and forth through the next three + years of college at least! At my current rate it looks like I'll probably put somewhere between 15-18,000 miles on it a year, so I'm trying to be very conservative with maintenance and care. I'd love to see it go a couple of more years after that if possible before I replace it. I've read a few 500 owners have gone well over 100,000 miles on their bikes. I know a lot of folks say that they cost more to operate than a car, but what new car could I buy for Five grand? So far, with the GZ250 and this Vulcan 500 I can honestly say that they have been much less expensive to own and operate than any four wheel vehicle I've ever owned. Of course some of that is just that bikes are basically bare bones transportation compared to the average car. I mean there's no AC to go out, no power steering pumps or electric window motors to die and my bike doesn't have a CD player to go bad or any of that other stuff that seems to always crap out on cars and pick up trucks. The only thing I actually see that seems to cost significantly more than on a car is the tires. At my current rate of wear I'm gonna need new tires at about 18,000 miles and that's gonna run about $200 installed. Now I realize that's only two tires on a bike compared to four on a car or truck but even if you double my mileage to account for four tires that means it compares to replacement of 4 automobile tires at around 35,000 miles, so not an enormous difference if you usually averaged around 45-50,000 miles out of a set of car tires, plus, I don't have to rotate my bike tires every 5,000 miles and the front end never seems to need an alignment!

[alanmcorcoran]

Interesting topic for another thread. I don't think there is any question a GZ is a cheaper from of transportation than any car, new or used, but I'm less sure about the Strat. I would guess that it probably is still cheaper than a car, but it's a lot closer. The insurance on the Strat was initially more than my car, but it was a mistake and I forget how it stacks up now. I recently had the 8K service done (service intervals alone seem to be far more frequent on motorcycles!) and, to my surprise, they replaced the plugs already! (there's four of em!) Still, so far, almost every dealer service (and I go to kind of a candy-ass fancy dealer) has cost about $300 or so and a lot of car services cost more than that. My tires still look brand new at 8K, but I suppose I'll have to be dealing with them eventually. Might be an interesting study to compare TCO to a FIT or a Scion.

[Water Warrior 2]

Alan, next time put Iridium plugs in the bike and never do it again for 50 or 60 K miles. And then it might be just a check and reinstall. For some reason Japanese bike makers have a thing about new plugs. Even regular plugs should go 20 K.

[burkbuilds]

Amazingly, I think the manual for my Vulcan calls for new plugs every 5,000 miles or so. Still, they are only about $6 for a pair and it takes more time to get the plug wrench out of the bag than it does to swap the plugs, so no big deal.

[dhgeyer]

For me, the really big difference is that almost all the maintenance on a bike is doable by the owner if he/she is willing to make the effort. My new BMW R1200R is in for its 600 mile service right now, and for just having the 3 oils changed (engine, transmission, and final drive) plus a tune up it's going to cost $250.00 or so. For warranty reasons it's smart to let an authorized dealer do the first one, I am told. Of course Max's BMW drove a truck 50 miles to pick it up, and will do the same to return it at no extra charge. But, I asked them to put together all the consumables and the special tools needed to do the next several services myself. Most expensive item is a Twin-Max vacuum gauge to synchronize the throttle bodies. Total extra charge will be another 150 or so. After that, service will cost me almost nothing. I keep my tires at a relatively high pressure for the warm riding season, and buy high mileage tires. I remove the wheels myself, so the labor charge for mounting them is very little. Insurance is way less for even a new bike than for a car, here in NH anyway. The 2 bikes I have now get as good or better mileage than even our Priuses (which are not subject to the brake recall, in case you were going to ask).

Bottom line is, I could never maintain a modern car, as they are too electronically sophisticated, and routine services run around $200.00 - $300.00 or so if I recall correctly. The average person, if they are willing to take the time to learn, can maintain a motorcycle, at least all the routine stuff. I think that if you do that, the bike comes out way cheaper in the end. If you don't, it's more like a toss up, and some bikes actually cost more to own and operate than some cars.

In a way it's a moot point. Most (not all) of us own cages, so all the overhead on the bike (depreciation, insurance, registration, taxes where applicable) is extra money that wouldn't be spent if we only owned a car.